Books:
Man’s Search for Meaning (if it has been a long time since you last read this book it is an incredible re-read)
Ishmael (A good book about a gorilla who makes some interesting points about how we are destroying our earth. I am still trying to figure out how much I liked it)
Winds of War (Joel left this book with me. I am only 30 pages into it but so far it is a lot of fun with great historical references to WWII)

Music: Josh Ritter and John McCutcheon
Podcasts: The Moth and Stuff You Should Know

This is long sorry 

Where to begin… A quick apology for how long it has taken me to sit down and write on my blog. Here is a quick catch up, I think that my last blog entry was in late July… It is October. Well throughout August and September I have had many wonderful adventures and continue to feel more and more a part of the community here in Chillán. I am going to tell a bunch of quick stories in this entry to try and catch you up as much as possible. In the last two months I had a wonderful visit from my college friend Joel Caldwell. We shared an incredible experience of running for our lives as well being embraced by a caring Chilean family for the Chilean National Independence Day “Fiestas Patrias”.
The teaching aspect of my adventure is actually almost over. I currently only get the opportunity to have my students in class 7 more times. In the education system that I grew up in that would be like saying there is only two weeks of school left. Any of you who were my friends or even more unfortunate, my teachers, know that with two weeks left I was not thinking about school. Therefore, I have not clued my students into the fact that we only have 7 more English classes in the upcoming 7 week. Hopefully this will help me hold onto whatever attention they are giving me at the moment. Below you will find a quick story from one of my most recent classes about finding “Love” in Chile.

To Begin, my dear friend Joel Caldwell arrived in early September for a 3 week adventure. He quickly dubbed me his “smooth operator” as we navigate the Chilean jungle. For the first week he bounced around from Santiago to San Pedro de Atacama. His second week he met me down in Chillán and was able to observe one of my more interesting classes. This was a great experience for me because I was able to bring Joel into my home-stay situation and share with him my life for the last 7 months. It really made me realize how much I enjoy spending time with my host family and even how much I enjoy my students.
After a few days with my host family Joel and I were ready to move on to Valparaiso. So we jumped on a bus to Santiago and we arrived in Valparaiso on a Monday. There are a few specific tourist attractions in Valparaiso, but our guide books recommended we just walk around. Actually everything we hear about Valparaiso is that it was a walking city. You just wake up in the morning and walk. So Joel and I set out this Monday afternoon in our shorts and sunglasses. We started walking and just kept on walking. It was an absolutely beautiful day. As we reached close to the most northern part of the city we decided we would walk up into the hills and see some of the beautifully colored homes up close. The diversity of colors in Valparaiso is probably its most well known characteristic. If you had to chose the best spot in the world for the best background drop for an Ipod commercial, Valparaiso would probably be at the top of the list. So Joel and I just kept walking and walking, like our trusty guidebooks had told us to do. It was incredible, every house was a different sort of funky and you never knew what you would encounter around the next corner. We had been walking for roughly 2 hours in Valparaiso when we came to an “S” in the road. As we came around the first bend and friendly gentleman who was jumping on a bus shouted to us in perfect English, “Hey fellas, be careful around here!” We gave him a quick nod of the head to show we had heard him and just kind of looked and each other. Without words we both reevaluated our situation. It was 3:30pm on a beautiful sunny day and there were a scatter of people on the street. Without words we both felt pretty comfortable and just continued on our merry little way. However, after the gentleman’s warning I was trying to be a little more observant. As we were just coming to the second bend in the “S” in the road I looked back and saw 5 Chileans walking roughly 100 meters behind us. I didn’t really think much of it considering 3 of them looked like they had just finished a fútbol game and the other two looked a bit rougher around the edges, but once again, it was completely sunny and Joel and I were just doing what the guide book said, walking around. As we were coming out of the second bend in the “S” and elderly lady who was watering her plants from and elevated position yelled at us, “Oiga, Oiga, No Entra allá, No Entra”. Joel immediately looked at me for a quick translation but the tone in her voice said it all. We should stop and turn around. We were in or entering the wrong part of town and it wasn’t safe for us gringos. After hearing two warnings inside of about 5 minutes Joel and I immediately turned around and started walking back the way we came. I saw the 5 guys who were behind us and still didn’t think much of them. We just walked right passed them without any comment or concern. We kept walking, however our senses were both heightened and we both kept surveying our situation. As we came to the first bend in the “S” I looked back quickly and saw that the two rougher looking guys from the group of 5 had tuned around as well. I also saw that one of them was running/jogging and stopped a little too quickly when I turned around for my glance. I mentioned to Joel that I thought there was a pretty good chance those guys were following us and we needed to quicken our pace. We hurried our steps to almost a jog and just kept moving. Right as we cleared the first bend of the “S” something moved quickly in my peripheral vision. I looked to see that the other 3 from the original group of 5 had taken a different rout and were directly behind us. Looking back on it I think their plan was to try and box us inside of the “S”. We had just barely cleared the spot they were dropping down from. Once these 3 realized they had missed their opportunity to trap us in the “S” in the road they started to run. Naturally fight or flight clicked into gear and Joel and I both took off running. We flew looking behind us to see if we were creating space or if they were gaining on us. Luckily our adrenalin was pumping more than theirs and we were off. We came around the next corner in the road and saw a path going down. We headed down bounding stairs in sets of 3 or 4 and probably set a world record for the quickest decent in Valparaiso history. We don’t actually know how long our want-to-be perpetrators followed us but we didn’t stop until we hit the main tourist district in Valpo. We both sat down and just thought in silence as our bodies recovered from the adrenalin rush and sprinting. We learned a valuable lesson that day and were incredible lucky to leave Valparaiso with the same amount of belongings we arrived with. Even with this scary incidence I would recommend Valpo as a beautiful and diverse city. It has so many great corks and crazy colors. If you do go though, don’t just walk mindlessly and listen to the first warning you hear, Joel and I both commented on how lucky we were to receive two warnings.

This is a last minute insert but I would like to mention the hospitality of the Chilean People. After my story in Valparaiso I don’t want you to have a negative opinion of Chile. So roughly two years ago Joel was traveling around Guatemala when he came across 5 Chileans that were traveling around as well. They shared some beers and spent a few days traveling together. As with almost all traveling friendships formed you quickly become Facebook friends. So a year and a half later when I arrived in Santiago Joel mentioned these friends to me. He said, “Jake these people are great! You have got to hang out with them.” So with the way the internet works I as well had met Margarita, Teré, and Ignacio. I shared Joel’s excitement of how genuine this people were. They range in age from 20-24 and are all in college still. However, their hospitality was taken to another level when Joel arrived and the Chilean National Independence Day was quickly approaching. “Fiestas Patrias” is the biggest festival/holiday here in Chile. My school for example celebrated for a week straight. Margarita and here family insisted tat we spend Thursday-Sunday of the Fiestas Patrias weekend with her friends and Family at a beach city north of Santiago. Joel and I of course agreed and got picked up in Santiago on Thursday. We were taken to the second home of the Grandparents of Margarita, Teré and Ignacio. When we arrived Joel and I were both blown away. This home was on top of a hill overlooking a beautiful valley and only 4km from the beach. There were actually two home connected by a short staircase. The Grandparents had obviously built this home to share with everyone in their family. There were beds for everyone and an abundance of space. Joel and I spent those 4 days in pure luxury trying to help out where we could. We spent Friday and Saturday eating Asado (BBQ but a 2 hour process) and celebrating with the whole family. At the most we felt like the awkward Gingos for 30 seconds over the course of the whole Weekend. We were fully embraced by their family and the Chilean culture. I doubt we could have imagined a more authentic Fiestas Patrias with some many genuine people. This is exactly the type of Hospitality that I have witnessed and experienced over the last 7 months. On the very last night Joel and I did get a chance to convince them to let us make a meal. We made Chicken Sandwiches with Potato chips. They loved them. To top it all off we finished with Banana Splits which were a huge hit. We got lots of we love the gringos during that meal. Above there is a picture with Joel and I and a short Chilean woman. She was actually the Nana of the family and traveled all that way with them. Turns out she is the most caring nana in the world. She took Joel and I in like we were her own children and there was not a morning that went by that she didn’t have breakfast waiting for us when we woke up.

This is us playing Fisbee on the Beach



Ok Now for some quick stories from the classroom.
Last Thursday was the day of the Janitors at my school. To honor them they had a special breakfast and gave them all the day off on Friday. It was fun for them to hear so many thank yous from students and teachers. Part of this celebration was this special breakfast on Thursday. In typical Chilean fashion it was a last minute decision on where to hold the breakfast and my English Classroom was decided upon. So in the middle of my third class of the day I and my students moved to the 3rd floor of my school to use a classroom furnished only with chairs. As I was scrambling to come up with a lesson plan last minute I grabbed my months of the year flashcards. When I got to the room I realized that those flashcards were about all that I had to use as tools other then pure repetition. So I went with the flashcards. I finished that class and in came my next class of 5th graders. Their average age is 9-11 years old and they are one of my best behaved classes. We all sat down the in the U of chairs and started with the months. It was incredible how quickly they mastered the pronunciation. So we moved on to my second set of Month flashcards that just have the first letter of every month. So instead of seeing January my students only saw J. They really had to pay attention to keep the months of the year in order so they weren’t saying June for January. They rocked it. I did keep in mind that many of the months of the year are cognates, but still these kids were doing great. So finally I just stopped and asked if there was any student that could do all 12 months of the year without any of the flashcards. By the end of the period every single student had finished this task. I was awed for the millionth time with their intelligence. Many of my students come from living situations that are less than par. The privilege that I grew up in doesn’t exist for most of these students. There is so much working against them that sometime I wonder how they manage. I will tell you though there is definitely one thing that they are no lacking at all, intelligence. This experience has definitely reinforced my belief that there is a huge problem with the education gap in the whole world. This problem unfortunately is directly affecting these children who didn’t make any of the decisions that put them in the situation they are in. While the education gap may be directly affecting just these students it is indirectly affecting us all. With there intelligence some of these students could grow up and become the great inventors of solutions to the problems we face in the world today.

Ok three other quick stories from teaching…
Two weeks ago I was teaching the question word “Where”. We were working on questions like, “Where are my keys?” and things of that sort. Over the course of this semester I have been trying to incorporate more and more music in my lessons because the students really enjoy it. So for the where lesson I chose the Black Eyed Peas song “Where is the Love?” What I usually do is teach the kids just one sentence that is the chorus or the hook of the song. That way we can all sing just one part of the song together. This is also great because it only take about 5 minutes of class time. So as I was teaching “Where is the love” one of my students raised his hand and said, “Mr. Jacob, In the Plaza”. It took me a second to catch on, but what he was saying was that the love, that the Black Eyed Peas were looking for could be found in the plaza. I couldn’t help but laugh. Here in Chile no matter what city you are in or what time of day if you walk through any plaza you will see two things that are direct symbols of love. You will see couples making out on park benches or in the grass and you will see stray dogs, well doing what stray dogs do. Both of these things are just so natural that nobody really notices any more. For any grigo it catches you off guard at first, but the more you see it the more you assimilate into the Chilean culture and just walk right by without noticing. So incase the Black Eyed Peas decided to read my blog, I have a 7th grade student named Thomas that can answer your question. The Love can be found in the Plaza.

“See Ya” has become the most well know English Slang for my 500 students. Throughout our WorldTeach training we learned that incorporating some English slang makes your class a little more fun and engaging. They did not tell us however that your English slang might be the only thing your students learn throughout the year. Well, I hope they have learned more than slang in my class, but guaranteed they have learned to say “see ya” as they are walking out of my class. The great thing about the slang “see ya” is that is sounds exactly like the Spanish word for chair “silla”. Therefore, none of my students have any embarrassment because they know they are pronouncing the word perfectly. This word has actually taken off so well I now how students who are trying to walk out of my room with chairs pointing down and saying “silla” as they leave. I also have a large number of students that love to say the spanish word “mesa” on their way out the door. Mesa unfortunately means table in English and sounds nothing like any form of goodbye in the English language. At the very least thought they got the ‘see ya’ slang down.

The Teachers Look. This has been something I have really been trying to work on over the last few months. I have heard from many of my favorite teachers that there is a Teachers Look. This is the look you got when you were talking during quiet time or misbehaving. One would think that I have seen this look so many times throughout my scholastic career that I would have it down. Unfortunately, I don’t think I have found it yet. I have most recently resorted to, the, I’m Watching You, hand signals. This works for a short amount of time but I still know I need some work to find the look. The Look that goes straight into that part of your brain where you remember all the punishments you received from your mother or father and you quickly realize that whatever it is you’re doing is not worth the wrath of your parental guardians. If any of you have any tips on how to achieve the look they would be appreciated.

Finally, I would like to finish by writing about Josh Ritter, The Wind on my Face and Eric Fergen. After school one day I was waiting outside to go help a friends son with his English Homework. As I was waiting I was leaning up against a tree listening to Josh Ritter and letting the sounds of his soothing voice calm my spirit. When I hit that point of tranquility I started to feel a slight breeze on my face. In those moments I felt so truly happy to be there. It was the fresh breeze in the warm afternoon sun with incredible music playing through my earphones that made me start to think. Really we are all so lucky to be alive and well, able to enjoy the breeze, the sun and music. This feeling of luck reminded me of one of my football teammates Eric Fergen who died in a drowning accident not so many years ago. I am confident that Eric was looking down and smiling at me as well. He knows that his life helped teach me one of the most import lessons in mine. Enjoy as many moments as possible, no matter where you are, and live each day al maximo.

Sorry this has been such a long entry with no re-writes or proof reading. Right now it looks like I will be getting home on the 7th of December. I will hopefully blog again before then, but no promises. When I get home I am thinking about trying to get a job at a ski resort and then participating in the Teach For America program starting next school year. HAVE A GREAT DAY!

Listening to: Garth Brooks “In Lonesome Dove”
Reba McEntire “The Night the Lights Went out in Georgia”

Just Finished Reading: Tuesdays with Morrie (Great book)


Todd and Tessa are a married couple who lived in Portland before deciding to join Worldteach last August. They just finished a year commitment with their school and have hopefully arrived back safely at PDX. I was fortunate enough to share their last dinner with them in Santiago with their WorldTeach field director Josh. While eating, Todd and Tessa both together shared a great story with me. I would now like to share that story with you. Upon returning from summer vacation Todd found that the logistical layout of his school has been changed. His old English classroom was now being used by a fourth grade class and his new room was a portable outside. Unfortunately, Todd was told by his director that he was not able to use the portable classroom until the new desks and chairs arrived. His director assured him the new desks and chairs had been ordered, by the mayor no less, and that he would be in his room inside of a week or two. Todd patiently waited and taught as best as he could in whatever classroom was available. After two weeks of bouncing around and teaching in barrowed spaces, Todd again addressed his director about the issue of needing his own space. His director quickly reassured him that the desks would arrive at any moment. Todd however was not so reassured. After living in Chile for the last 4 months he knew that sometimes decisions, especially internal decisions that don’t directly affect the higher-ups, are sometimes overlooked and never come to fruition. Therefore Todd set to finding a solution. He spoke with his wife Tessa and they were both stumped about where they could come up with 20 desks and chairs. This situation continued for a few more weeks with no sign of new desks or chairs in the future. Then one night while having pizza with our field director he asked for some feedback on the solution. Together they revaluated the issue and looked at what was really needed. He asked Todd about the space he had and what resources the students did have. Together they decided that the portable had everything it needed except for desks and chairs. That’s when it hit them. Todd realized he didn’t even need desks and all the students left empty chairs behind when they came to his room. He decided that he would just have his students carry their chairs with them to his classroom.
The very next school day Todd had 20 students pick up their chairs and walk in an orderly fashion from their classroom to his portable. Seeing 20 students walking with their chairs in the Hallway quickly caught the eye of the director and everyone else in the school. The issue of no desks or chairs had just become visible to everyone and now was affecting some of the higher-ups. By Friday of that week Todd had 20 new desk and chairs in his classroom.
When Todd told me this story over dinner I liked it. Then after thinking about it for a few minutes I decided I loved it. Todd found a solution to an issue that was outside of his control. He solved this very frustrating month long problem in a completely non-confrontational manner. Seeing those students carrying their chairs was the perfect motivation he needed to make a few more calls and make sure Todd’s desks and chairs came as quickly as possible.

Ok so after writing all that I don’t know if any of you will find it as sweet as I did. You might just have to work/volunteer for the Mistery of education to understand the frustrations that come with the lack of communication and follow through….. Hopefully you liked it though.




Today is the last day of my winter break. Tomorrow we begin the second semester at Escuela Reyes de España. Only 17 weeks left… I am excited to start the second semester and see how far my students can get. The main goal of this semester we will be mastering “Wh” question words. We will see how that goes….!

Over the last two weeks I have been on winter vacation. Some of the highlights include:
1. Going to an observatory here in Chile, it was incredible, the best night of star gazing in my life.
2. Meeting the 4 month Volunteers that just arrived… They are excited which rubbed off on me and got me all sorts of energized for the second semester.
3. Hanging out with Katie, Ryan, and their friend Becky.
4. Rediscovering country music.
5. Going to the Opera in Santiago… “Lady MacBeth” interesting to say the least.
6. Skiing in the Andes, “I bought the greatest ski suit for $10 at the used clothing store, still waterproof and windproof.
7. Meeting some really great Chileans while hitch hiking to and from the mountain and around the city of La Serena.
8. Jumping in the Ocean at 12:30am
9. Going to the reading room in the Santiago national library and reading Tuesday’s with Morrie.

And the best part is feeling refreshed and energized for the next semester. I was feeling a little down and out about going back, but now I feeling better about returning and just trying to give my students the best 17 week gringo English teaching experience I can.
Perfecto! Nos Vemos, Chao,,

Peace and Love,

Jake

(I was putting the final touches on this blog and typing in the what I was reading when I remembered something. Over the break I decided that I would love to teach a class for some day titled, “Books that will change your life” some of the books on that list are, Man’s Search for Meaning, Tuesdays with Morrie, Jonathan Livingston Seagull,,, and there are others I am thinking about. I would love any recommendations any of you out there might have. So please e-mail jschonau@gmail.com with any books that you feel may have changed your life a little. Thanks Jake)

Lt. Brian Bradshaw 2

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=107006727

This link will take you to an NPR story that touches on Brian's life.

Awesome!

I think you will like this....

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sq0qZPmwpko

Public Speaking to Sickness to Birthdays!!

6/29/2009

Listening to: Dave Matthews/Ingid Michaelson/Jack Johnson

Reading: Water for Elephants, (A great Book)

Today is a Holiday here in Chile. I wish I could tell you what holiday it is, but all I really know is that there is no school today. So I have decided to use my day off to recover from my host-sisters all night birthday party and catch up on my blog, my lesson plans, and try and generate a rough sketch for my winter vacation coming up.

I have recently discovered that there is a reason God created only one winter every year. Unfortunately, this year with the move from the northern hemisphere to southern, I elected to endure two winter spells this year. Due to two winters I am no longer a believer in global warming! Just joking….

Roughly two weeks ago I felt myself getting a little sick and couldn’t figure out exactly what it was. After scouring the internet and researching symptoms I successfully ruled out any major illness, according to CDC my symptoms did not qualify me for the swine flu. So I continued my daily routine for the next couple of days perpetually bothered by not feeling 100%. Then after roughly tres dias I successfully diagnosed myself with a solid case of homesickness. For the first time in my life I acknowledged that I was technically homesick. I had been in an odd funk that was driven by missing home, friends, family, and the summer for sure. Now I am doing much better and the last couple of weeks have been great as well as flown by. However, I have decided there is only one prescription for to completely cure my homesickness and prevent its spread. The prescription is,,,, all of you who are out there enjoying the summer and friends and family need to enjoy them all just a little more to make up for my absence this year. Therefore, spend a little more time feeling the sun on your face or counting blades of grass and surround yourself with friends and family just a little more often. If all of my faithful 10 readers make a solid attempt at self-medicating with my self-prescribed remedy there is no way a this form of homesickness can spread.

Ok, now getting back to the last few days. Last Sunday, Right in the middle of this homesick spell, I was informed by my fellow volunteer, Katie, that my Public Speaking competition candidate, a 13 year Chilean named Natalie, would need to change her topic two days before the competition. This timely news only added nasty homesickness germs to my yucky homesick vibe. After speaking with my co-teacher we decided that there was only one solution. We would have to rewrite Natalie’s speech on Sunday morning and have her practice all day Monday and present on Tuesday. After a few hours of work my brain and warmed up and my high school/college cramming skills were firing on all cylinders. After a solid two days worth of work we had thrown together a decent piece on England and its importance to the English Language. Needless to say on Monday night I was exhausted and only wanted to get the darn thing over with. The one nice thing is that I was so preoccupied with preparing Natalie that I began to forget about my homesickness. Tuesday I awoke early and we headed out for Concepción. During our 1½ hour car ride I felt like we had done the best we could do on such short notice, but I also had a nagging feeling that I may had let Natalie down. She is an incredible English speaker especially for the age of 13 and it was partly my responsibility that she was not able to prepare for more than 2 days for this competition. (This is a much longer story that basically covers some of the daily miscommunication battles I encounter with my co-teacher and the Ministry of Education here in Chile) However, we were in the car and there is no use crying over spilled milk or lost time. We had done the best we could and Natalie appeared calm, albeit slightly nervous. When we arrived in Concepción we were greeted by the other contestants and judges. The whole situation oddly reminded me of the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie, we had all of these 8th grade students chaperoned by their English teachers eagerly anticipating the public speaking to begin so a winner could be decided upon. Once again I checked on Natalie as she had become rather silent after meeting the other competitors, the football player in me came out as I convinced myself and her that she was just exhibiting a calm intensity that all great competitors exhibit before competition. I doubt she believed me when I tried to explain this to her, but it made me feel better. After a ceremonially breakfast we headed to another room where in classic Chilean fashion the rules and format were re-communicated to clear up all the previous miscommunication. Finally, after a couple hours of breakfast and formalities it started. Natalie rocked and gave a solid presentation on England. The other contestants also did a great job and it was overall a rewarding experience to see such a high level of English being spoken by 12-13 year old Chileans. After the all of the contestants presented the judges left to tally their results so we used the time to lighten the mood and take some pictures with all the students and gringos we could round up. (Pictured above are all the current Worldteach volunteers in the 8th region of Chile with all of the participating students) When the judges came back they gave advice to each contestant on how they could improve their public speaking, they also complemented every student individually on their hard work. They then announced that there would only be one contestant that would continue on to compete in the national competition in Antofogasta, Chile. When they announced Natalie’s name as the winner I was surprised and relieved. After only two days of preparation she had given a fantastic performance. I was relieved because she would now get to present in the national competition and this time we would have enough time to prepare her to the best of our ability.
After the competition we spent the rest of the day in the big City of Concepción. I believe it is the 3rd largest city in Chile. We went to the University of Concepción with Natalie so she could get a look at and feel for the university campus. Overall, I think she really enjoyed it and was able to see what the future might hold for her if she continues with her studies. (On a side note, for any Spanish speakers and feminists out there, the campus was full of graffiti with the basic message of free education for everyone; the feminist perspective comes in because whenever we saw the word “todos” or “todas”, meaning everyone, it was spelled “todxs”. Natalie, my co-teacher and I thought about this for a few minutes when we decided that the “todxs” was spelled with an “x” to make it gender neutral. Without using an “o” or an “a” the “todxs” could not be misunderstood and represents both the masculine and feminine versions of the word “Todxs”. I found this interesting.)



Pictured to the left are Natalie and I at the entrance to the University of Concepción. As well as Natalie overlooking the main grounds of the U de Conce

So, now on to this last weekend… this is going to be brief because the last part was so long. This weekend we celebrated my host-sister, Camila’s, birthday.

She brought some friends down from her University in Talca and we ate dinner here at the house and hung out. We started eating at around 9:00pm and finished with cake at roughly 12:00am. Just to stay awake with these Chileans I had to drink 3-4 cups of black coffee throughout the whole night. Then we just hung out until I thought it was about bedtime. Unfortunately, Camila and her friends had a different idea of what Chileans do at 4:00am; clearly Chileans go to the disco at 4am. After I was outvoted, it was a landslide in favor of the disco, I reluctantly joined the crew and found myself in a not all that interesting very typical smoke filled Chilean disco. Lucky for me the disco closed at 5:30am and I was able to fulfill my one wish and went to sleep. That was on Saturday night, today is Monday and I am still recovering, however, I did get to experience a Chilean disco at 4am.


So life is good here in Chile, I have fought off this homesick vibe and I am confident with your help of friends, family, and sunshine it won’t come back. I continue to learn something new every day. This weekend for example I have decided that I will probably not be returning to a disco ever again at 4am, no matter what the vote is. I have also learned, the U.S. actually has a decent fútbol team and played a great 1st half against Brazil, it’s really too bad there are two halves in fútbol. And Finally I was reminded in not the lightest terms, that life is meant to be lived and enjoyed. Look for beauty around you and you will constantly be awed, our world is full of good things. Keep the young men and women who are protecting our freedom in your hearts and prayers, and thank whichever higher being you believe in for everyday we are here.

Peace, Love and Pure Vida,
your servant or chao,
jake

A Personal Reflection on the War

This blog posting is more just a way for me to vent about a recent event in my life. If it is not understood or offends anyone I am sorry. Unlike some of my incredible talented friends, my writing ability is not capable of accurately communicating my thoughts and ideas. So please do not analyze to strongly the words below. If you are at all concerned about how I am doing, I am fine and no worries, I just needed to get this one off my chest.

So, I promise to blog about something lighter soon, like tomorrow, but I just wanted to share my thoughts on the US War in the Middle East. I am often asked what I think about the war in Iraq and the US military while I am here in Chile. My answer thus far has been that I personally don’t agree with war/violence and that I feel it doesn’t really solve the issues. Life is meant to be lived each day and enjoyed. You never really know how long you have got, or what tomorrow will bring. Therefore enjoy every moment and when you are down look for something beautiful around you to cheer you up. Eric Fergen and Brady Freeman were two of my friends that taught me this to live each moment to the fullest. The reason I am writing about this now is to share the death of one of my Pacific Lutheran University classmates who died from an IED in Afghanistan. His name was Brian Bradshaw and he and I shared classes. I did not know him well, but in one of my senior year political science classes we sat by each other every day. We would always BS about the class or whatever and I enjoyed getting his input on the conflict issues we dealt with in the class. Over the course of the class I came to find out he was much more intelligent that I was. He remembered details and facts about everything and was keenly aware of the perspectives others held in the class. It is a travesty that bright young men are losing their lives in a war that in my opinion was founded on lies. I believe that Brian gave his life serving his country and for that and any other member of the armed forces I have the utmost respect. It is these people who literally dedicate their lives, whom I have to thank for my freedom. My thoughts and prayers go out to your family Brian. May they find some small consolidation that you gave your life serving a great country and protecting me and all other Americans from danger.

http://www.adn.com/news/military/story/844748.html

6/19/2009

Listening To: Michael Jackson ‘Man in the Mirror”

Reading: “Where there is no Doctor”

Ok! School is back in session and I am once again learning every day where I can improve upon my teaching skills. Overall the last two weeks have gone pretty well though. I have realized that a solid lesson plan helps quite a bit. Unfortunately, I can have what I think is an incredible plan, but when I put it into practice I find there is room for improvement. Usually by Wednesday my plans are pretty good though and my students are learning, I hope. This week we learned how to tell time and the younger students learned how to ask and respond to “How are you?”. Overall it was a fun week. The most important teaching aspect I learned from the week is the role of competition. Once the students started to compete between other classes their focus was incredible. Now I just have to find a way to include some sort of healthy competition in every lesson.

Over the last two weeks I have become more and more torn with what I am going to do in the future. This has always been a constant nag in the back of my mind, but recently it has become more than a nag. It has evolved into a full fledged internal battle. In trying to come to some sort of decision I have settled on nursing or teaching. The pluses and minuses on both just about even out and I have become completely torn. Today, my mood on these changes daily, I am leaning towards doing Teach for America for a couple of years. One of the problems with the program I am doing right now is that I am not in a high school setting. Also, I am only with each student once a week for 45 minutes. Therefore I am getting great teaching experience but it is not the most realistic feel for the type of teaching I would like to do. If I did teach I would enjoy teaching Global Studies with a few Spanish classes sprinkled in. Just FYI I still do have a strong pull to nursing and one of my co-volunteers, Katie who is a nurse in AZ, just got done telling me there is a lot of teaching in nursing. So this is what I am struggling with right now. Don’t worry though it is not getting me down at all. Chile is still incredible and everyday I learn and experience something new.

Ok so enough of what I don’t know, how about some of what I would like to do. I have set some pretty unrealistic goals for spring 2010 and I would like to share them. If any of you would like to join me you all have my e-mail.
1. I would like to ride my bike across the country, starting on the pacific side and go until I run out of time. I would love to ride through Glacier National park as well as Yellowstone. I don’t know if I could actually make it all the way across due to the amount of time it would take. But, who knows, I might just give it a shot.

2. I would like to climb Mt. Rainier. I will solicit the help of Mr. Chuck Caley, Jeff Caley’s dad, as well as any other ambitions friends who would like to joint the expedition.

That’s about all I have for right now. Oh,, here is a English tip that I picked up from the Spanish language incase any of you struggle like I do with this problem.

1. I have always gotten confused the spelling of Angel and Angle. Well, here is a quick and easy way to remember. In Spanish there are a bunch of kids named Angela or Angel, (as I am writing I am realizing that you have to have to know how to pronounce the “G” sound in Spanish to really understand how these names sound). Well, Angel in spanish actually sounds the way it is spelled. Unlike English where Angle and Angel could really be spelled either way to me and I would never know the difference.

There you have it. A quick Spanish lesson and a whole lot of blog reading. Sorry if you found this to not be that interesting. It turned out to be more of a stream of consciousness piece than anything that was outlined and planned out.

One last thing, if you have not heard the How stuff works podcasts on iTunes I recommend them. I have been listening to How Stuff Works and Things you Missed in History Class Podcasts while walking to and from school. They are quick podcasts with some cool information and always entertaining.

Ok Chao,

Jake

(P.S. The word Chao comes from the Italia word Ciao. The Italian expression "ciao" comes from the Venetian expression "sciao tuo", in modern Italian "schiavo tuo": 'your slave', formal : "servo vostro" : 'your servant'.)

So really what I am saying there is,

Ok Your Servent,
Jake